During a visit to the facility, Jackson talked to the Community Visitor about a search that had been conducted the previous week. He was upset about the search, especially around matters of personal dignity, and wanted to make a complaint.

At Jackson’s request, the Community Visitor organised a meeting with the manager of the facility, and attended the meeting with Jackson. The manager acknowledged Jackson’s concerns, heard his feedback about possible improvements to searches in the future, and also apologised directly to Jackson about some communication issues which had arisen during his admission.

Jackson was happy with the outcome of the meeting. With Jackson’s consent, the Community Visitor reviewed his file and noted that documentation about the search was not present. This was subsequently fixed by the facility.

Requests for clarification about legal issues relating to search powers were raised in the next CVP quarterly report and included in the CVP recommendations to the agency, which sought legal advice to clarify the scope of search powers under the AMT Act.